1. What are the .ash files?:An .ash file is a kind of file used specifically by Audiosurf to store some information about the song you just loaded. The first time you load a song, the game analyses its information (such as length, the ride it generates, points needed for each medal, etc.) so the next time you load it, Audiosurf just loads what it wrote on the file the first time, making the process much faster.
An .ash file generally has the following structure on its name:
*random numbers**file name of the song**file extension*.ash
so a regular .ash file would look like this:
By looking at its name, we know that the filename of that song was "Last day alive" and that it was an .mp3 file.
2. More information regarding .ash files:.ash files' size varies depending exclusively on the length of a song and how many blocks per minute it has (since it stores where each block is located), being their average size from 20KB to 40KB more or less.
.ash files are located inside this folder:
*Steam path*\steamapps\common\audiosurf\engine\AudiosurfHC
and it doesn't matter how many .ash files you have inside that folder (some people reached 300 .ash files at once, and they had no problems playing the game) since Audiosurf uses those random numbers to generate them, it also doesn't matter if you play two different songs with the same filename and extension, the game will detect that that specific song doesn't have any .ash file in particular since their lengths, size in MBs or the song "per se" won't be the same.
3. What are they useful for apart from loading songs faster?:.ash files provide a secure environment for players wanting to hold a competition on a specific song, since one of the players can load the song with Audiosurf, letting it create the correct .ash file and then he/she can send the .ash file
with the song file to his/her rival, making sure they will have the exact same ride, with the same blocks placed on the same place, both will have a corkscrew or not, etc.
Remember though that for this competition mechanism to work correctly, the song file both players load must be the exact same, or else Audiosurf will generate a completely new .ash file, as stated on point number 2.
4. Cheating, hacking, etc. using .ash files:Some players are highly concerned about the scoreboards being "hacked" by modifying .ash files to add more blocks, make uphill sections downhill, etc., and let's face it, they're mid-right.
Why are they right? Because this is a game for the PC, and on the PC you have access to all your files, including game files, and while .ash files are saved using some kind of codification that no one else than Dylan and maybe lebeth know, some people are just desperate enough to use their "hacking abilities" to find the way they're codified and make the modifications they want.
Hacking .ash files isn't completely bad though, some players (like Lu Tze, a player on this very same forum) use their knowledge not to hack the files in order to cheat on the scoreboards, but to bring new exciting and (sometimes) harder ways of playing Audiosurf to players, just like using the [as-] tags but in a way which they have more control about what will happen with on the track.
It's up to the "hacker" to use his/her knowledge for the good or the bad. But you don't have to worry too much anyway, since if a "hacker" chooses to go the bad way, you can always use the "Report" button on the scoreboard.
5. Final thoughts on .ash files:So that's what you pretty much have to know about .ash files, but here are some tips regarding them:
· You can copy .ash files to whatever computer you want, so you don't have to (for example) wait for your netbook to create the .ash files for the same 30 songs you already played on your desktop PC.
· You can delete all of your .ash files to recover some space from your HDD anytime you want, Audiosurf will just create the .ash file you deleted the next time you load that specific song.
· Sharing .ash files
does not break any DRM or any rules your song file may have, since you can't get the actual song from it, it's completely legal to share them between players.
· There are no viruses known that affect .ash files, so (and forgive me if I'm a bit repetitive) you can share your .ash files with anybody since you won't send them a virus if your PC is infected nor you will get malicious software from downloading .ash files.
And that's it, have fun with the game, play safe and rest assured that you now know everything you need to deal with those now-not-so-strange .ash files
Audiosurf